


Red Cloak of Yours, Wrapped Tight 'Round My Heart

by TheCourtSorcerer



Series: The Return of A King [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: (Very brief), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthur Pendragon Returns (Merlin), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Merthur, Established Relationship, Happy Ending, Hurt Merlin (Merlin), Hurt/Comfort, I wrote this instead of studying, Immortal Leon (Merlin), Immortal Merlin (Merlin), M/M, POV Arthur, POV Leon (Merlin), Post-Battle of Camlann (Merlin), Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Protective Leon (Merlin), References to Previous Character Death, Unbeta'd, no beta we die like men, resurrection fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-14 20:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28926591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCourtSorcerer/pseuds/TheCourtSorcerer
Summary: “Hey, Merlin, are you—” Leon cut himself off the moment he stepped into his friends’ bedroom doorway, falling silent as he stared at the scene before him. “Uh oh… It’s one ofthosedays, hm?” He asked, voice soft, as his eyes trailed over the familiar red the warlock has wrapped himself in on his bed.
Relationships: Leon & Merlin (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: The Return of A King [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120385
Comments: 16
Kudos: 383





	Red Cloak of Yours, Wrapped Tight 'Round My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Minor BG - Merlin and Arthur married pre-Camlann, Arthur still died there when Merlin couldn't get to him in time. 
> 
> __  
> ~~I honestly just wanted to write an Arthur Returns fic with some good Merlin & Leon familial friendship/Leon comforting Merlin (bc really when you spend 1,500 years with someone you either despise them, marry them, or become family).~~  
> 
> 
> In other news, I have a biology exam on Monday and I want to break plates and scream because I know none of the material. 
> 
> In other other news, I was going to wait and post this for Tavern Quest #2: Hurt/Comfort Fest 2021 but I got impatient because it doesn't start until the 1st and wanted to post it now, so here it is. Luckily I have a couple other fics I'm working on for the Quest ~~(no spoilers but i'll give you one hint for each of them 1. merman merlin and 2. magic arthur)~~. I may submit both to the fest if I can submit more than one entry--but I may just submit the latter one bc it's sure to have more H/C. I also am working on a Series for Tavernfest Round 2 (Love Languages), I'm working on one fic per language, so keep an eye out for that if you like those things!! 
> 
> Anyhow, I hope you like this!

“Hey, Merlin, are you—” Leon cut himself off the moment he stepped into his friends’ bedroom doorway, falling silent as he stared at the scene before him. “Uh oh… It’s one of _those_ days, hm?” He asked, voice soft, as his eyes trailed over the familiar red the warlock has wrapped himself in on his bed.

The air was tense for a moment, silent, before slowly Merlin rolled over and looked at the once-knight, his eyes red and swollen. He’d been crying… Of course, Leon expected no less when he saw the cloak draped over his body, but… This felt different. This felt more like the first couple times, all those centuries ago… The loss and heartbreak, fresh and aching. Leon frowned and walked over slowly before sitting on the edge of the bed.

“I…” Merlin started, only to be cut off by a choked sob that seemed to force its way out. He snapped his mouth shut and looked away again. Leon didn’t need to see him to know his eyes were filling with tears. With a quiet sigh, Leon adjusted his position so he sat fully on the bed, leaning back against the head board. Once he was sat comfortably, he gently grabbed Merlin, ignoring his weak cry of protest, and pulled him up beside him. He wrapped his arms around his friend in a comforting embrace, tucking him carefully against his side, mindful of the cloak around him as to not let it fall off.

Merlin was tense for a moment, before he sank into Leon’s hold, turning his head to sob into his shoulder. Leon just let him cry, silent as he held him, letting his hands run lightly over the fabric of the old cloak he wore. He was still amazed Merlin’s magic was able to preserve it so well… It was wonderful, yet so painful… It had been a long time since his friend had one of these days, though, so the old knight found himself concerned.

Eventually, the sobs quieted to the occasional hiccuping gasp, as Merlin slowly pulled back to wipe his eyes with his wrist. “I’m sorry…” He murmured, his voice quieter than Leon had heard in quite possibly years. His frown deepened in worry.

“Something happened?” He found himself asking, as he brushed dark hair from blue eyes in a silent but sweet show of friendly care. “You’ve not had a day like this in quite some time, Merlin… I can’t remember the last time I saw this.” He gently lifted a corner of the cloak to show what he was talking about. When Merlin just looked away, pulling the fabric tighter around himself, Leon faltered. Hesitated.

“…Are the nightmares back…?” He asked cautiously. He felt a rush of relief when Merlin frowned and shook his head. The nightmares had been a difficult period. Leon remembered waking up in the middle of the night a few times a week a few decades ago to his last living friend screaming, begging, in terror. It wasn’t something he ever wanted either of them to experience again.

“I… I thought…” Leon waited and listened, patient, not rushing him. Merlin took a shaky breath and scooted subtly away from Leon. It wasn’t something he took offense to. After so long with each other, they had grown very close—in a familial way. There was only one person who would ever have Merlin’s heart, and Leon (as much as he loved Merlin) could never see his friend in anything but a platonic light. He’d always seen Merlin as more of a brother, and these centuries together just further set that in stone. He knew, though, that Merlin moving away from him wasn’t anything against Leon. He was just finished with the touch; he’d had as much as he could bring himself to allow at that moment. Leon respected and understood that. He’d comforted Merlin best he could, and now it was time to listen, and that meant he couldn’t be holding him like a child in a storm. He didn’t fully move away from him, though. They still touched at the shoulders. Leon didn’t mind that, either. He knew it was grounding Merlin, helping him stay here on earth. Helping him know he was still here and not alone, and that Merlin was still alive and not trapped in a dream.

It helped them both in that aspect. Contact, even the smallest form, with another living, breathing, tangible thing. It was grounding. It proved you were real. Merlin just tended to need it a little more than others. Being an immortal warlock who’s had the love of his life forcibly ripped from his hands along with everyone and thing he knew and loved aside from one single person does that to a guy.

“I thought he was back…” It was hardly a murmur, but it made Leon’s world stop anyhow.

“He…?”

“Arthur,” Merlin confirmed, closing his eyes, his fists gripping the cloak tightly. “I thought… My magic it—I sensed him… Or, I thought I did, and… And I was so happy… I dropped everything, Leon. Gods, it was faint, but my magic was reaching out to him, and I just… I left work, and I didn’t even drive I just—ran. I ran to the lake, to greet him, to _see_ him and… and…”

Realization washed over Leon like cold waves on a beach, and his face fell as he looked to the heartbroken sorcerer sitting beside him, wrapped in his King’s cloak like it could bring him back. “He wasn’t there…” Leon whispered, his heart aching for his friend when Merlin simply nods, furiously blinking as if fighting off more tears.

“I thought… I really thought he was back, Leon, and I just… I feel like I’ve lost him all over again…” He whimpered, leaning his head to the side, letting it fall onto Leon’s shoulder.

“Oh, Merlin…” Leon sighed. Merlin pressed his forehead into the knight’s shoulder, and Leon took the silent signal and pulled him back into a hug. “He’ll come back, Merlin. Arthur will come back… He always comes back for you.”

His words were met with silence. Then, a quiet, “promise?”

He couldn’t help the gentle chuckle that fell past his lips at the almost childlike tone in Merlin’s voice. He nodded his head, still, and gave him a soft squeeze.

“I promise.”

* * *

He walked. He didn’t know why he walked, didn’t know where he walked, all he knew was he walked.

He _felt_. He felt…?

Recognition surged through him like a merciless bolt of lightning, and his walk became a sprint.

_Merlin!_

* * *

The sound of the front door swinging open registered about the same time the sound of the heavy footsteps coming down the hall did. Leon straightened up in an instant, his arms protectively tightening around the warlock drifting to sleep at his side. The clang of metal echoed, and Merlin stirred at the noise and movement.

“Leon..?” He asked softly, exhausted from crying. The former knight knew the moment Merlin’s ears picked up the sounds of someone walking towards his room in the hallway. He stiffened, his grip on the cloak around his shoulders suddenly tightening as he sat alert in his friends hold. “Leon. There’s someone in the house. _There is someone in the house.”_ He hissed in a panic.

Normally, it would be no issue. Merlin was the most powerful warlock to ever live! They both knew it, even if it _did_ take Leon some time to get used to. So, really, typically they had no reason to panic about someone breaking in. Merlin could easily take care of it. But right now, right now he was exhausted. Anyone with eyes could see it. And when Merlin’s exhausted… His magic isn’t necessarily the most compliant to his will. Leon could take them down, he was strong and knew how to fight, but his priority right now was keeping Merlin safe. If someone came into the room, he would fight, but he wouldn’t leave him alone in the state he was in.

“Shh, keep your voice down,” Leon whispered, “better to not let them know anyone’s home, than attract them. We don’t know if they’ve come for a fight or just a quick steal. All our really valuable stuff is locked away with your warding, they won’t find it… Safety comes first, and you’re in no state of mind to fight, we can replace whatever they take…”

Merlin looked as if he wanted to protest for a moment, but ended up just nodding to Leon’s relief. He buried himself further into the cloak, and Leon gave him a gently, comforting squeeze, keeping his eyes on him while Merlin stared at the doorway. He knew they were immortal, there was nothing really to fear, but they could still get hurt, and even if Merlin could just heal them… Well, they can still feel pain. Plus, Leon would rather Merlin _not_ have to see him be graphically injured again. They’ve had a good half-decade! He wouldn’t let it be ruined now by some modern-day bandit.

The footsteps stopped right outside the door, and Leon heard Merlin’s breath catch in his throat with a noise vaguely similar to that of a dying deer. He watched as the warlock’s eyes went wide, a variety of emotions swimming in them—disbelief, pain, sorrow, fear, and… Just faintly, hope, beneath it all. Tears began to gather in his eyes once more, and if the situation had been different, Leon would be wondering how the man was still able to cry anymore. He couldn’t wonder that now, though, not with the concern rushing through him.

“Merlin, what—” A hauntingly familiar, teasing voice cut him off.

“I finally come home after all these years to find my first Knight getting cozy with my husband… I should’ve known better than to leave you two alone together.”

Leon’s eyes snap to the doorway, wide in shock. There, in all his Kingly glory, stood the man they’d been waiting for, for 1,500 years, his hair a mess, armour dirty and dented, and missing his cape, but still as regal as he’d ever been. His eyes shimmered with unshed tears, betraying the playful grin on his face as he stood leaning against the doorframe. Leon subconsciously registered his own eyes stinging faintly.

“…Arthur?” He asked, cautious, not sure if he could really believe his own eyes. He couldn’t be hallucinating, Merlin saw him too… But still, it didn’t feel real.

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s me. It’s really me, I swear,” the blond man murmured, nodding slowly. “I’m home. I’m finally home.”

A choked sob tore his attention away from his King, and pulled it to his friend. Merlin trembled in his hold as he stared at Arthur, tears freely flowing down his face as he covered his mouth with a hand. The sound of metal moving against itself rang through the room as Arthur shifted in the doorway, and Leon carefully removed his arms from around Merlin.

The brunet wasted no time. As soon as Leon let go of him, he scrambled off the bed and launched himself at the resurrected King, cloak billowing behind him at the quick movement. Leon watched as Merlin grabbed frantically at Arthur, searching for any sign he wasn’t really there, before his hands landed finally at the sides of his neck as he openly checked for a pulse. Leon assumed he felt the beat of his heart when Merlin’s hands dropped from the King’s neck and his arms wound around it instead in a crushing embrace, sobs wracking his body. Arthur just let it happen, slowly and gently wrapping his arms around his lover in return.

It warmed Leon’s heart, to watch such a reunion, though a part of him did feel as though he was intruding on something incredibly intimate when the two began to whisper back and forth as Arthur rocked them. At this, he forced himself to look away, choosing to stare at the ceiling instead to give them the illusion of privacy.

A smile crept it’s way onto the Knight’s face when he heard Merlin’s laugh after a few moments. A real, true laugh. He looked back to the two, to see them slowly untangling from each others hold. As soon as they let go of one another, Merlin slipped his hand into Arthur’s. Leon bit back a grin when he saw Merlin’s thumb move from the back of Arthur’s hand to the inside of his wrist, in what he probably though was a sneaky way to feel his pulse. A sneaky way to remind himself Arthur was really alive. Leon was yanked out of his analysis of his friend’s actions when he heard Arthur speak again.

“Is this my cloak?” The King hummed, tugging gently on the red fabric clasped around Merlin’s shoulders. The warlock looked away, his face flushed red.

“Possibly…”

“You kept it for all this time?” He spoke it like a tease, but Leon could hear the fond undertone to his voice.

Merlin just huffed softly, shifting so he could lean against Arthur’s side where they stood. “…It makes me feel like you were still here, holding me like before… I still had a part of you with me even when you were gone…”

Leon could pinpoint the _exact_ moment Arthur’s heart melted, just by his expression alone. He respectfully turned away when Arthur pulled his husband in for long-overdue kiss. He was secretly relieved when the kissed seemed to stay innocent. They were still standing in the doorway, so he couldn’t sneak away had it gotten heated.

Leon pretended he didn’t jump when a hand suddenly dropped onto his shoulder. Instead, he just calmly turned his head and looked over to see Arthur standing beside him, next to the bed, with Merlin still clutching his hand at his side.

“It’s good to see you again, Leon.” Arthur smiled at him.

“It’s good to see you as well, Sire. I’m glad you’re back,” he replied honestly, meeting his eyes after glancing to Merlin. Arthur nodded at him, seeming to understand his silent message.

“I’m glad to be back.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this! Have a splendid existence, you're spectacular, and get some sleep if you need it!


End file.
